I hope those of you reading will be happy to know, that some interesting things concerning the direction of the fanfic will be talked about during this chapter ^^ And, that's really all I have to say, except thanks to Caitlinkeitorin for another helpful review for the previous chapter ^_^
Disclaimer: I do not own any KH related characters, plots, etc, all original characters have been added to the story with permission from original creators.
Chapter Five - Once Upon A Time…
The first thing Sora did was to cough rather violently to himself.
The boy still wasn't able to reopen his eyes yet, though even he knew that everything was different.
The sudden switch from the cold rock and sand of their island to, wherever they were now, was more then enough for the young man.
Especially after such painful wounds…
Their wounds!
A light bulb seemed to go off within the young man's head. His right hand scrambled over his chest to where he had felt the blade piece right through his chest.
"N-Nothing?"
Sora whispered as his hand fell to his side.
Nothing was there.
No pain, no scar, not even a tear in his school clothes. Strength soon returned to his eyes, helping the man open them and survey his surroundings.
A sleeping Kairi and Riku close by brought a smile to Sora's face, as his gaze seemed to adjust to the dull light that enveloped the small cavern like room they were in.
Besides the one large pillar that both of his friends were sleeping against, Sora could see that many more were positioned in straight rows, one on each side of the room and bringing the total to eight.
The light was soon found to be strange crystal like substances that hung from the walls, while in the very center of the room a large perfect crystal hung.
Naturally, it held the largest source of light for everyone. However, it soon seemed to have another purpose, as the Keyblader's eyes fell on what the crystals light was illuminating most out of everything in the room.
The huge wall of rock and marble formed a beautiful frame, to which what appeared to be an easily breakable mirror was placed inside its space.
Moving exceptionally close to it, the spiky brown haired man raised his hand, smiling a little as he slowly began to see the reflection of himself and his hand as he moved closer and closer to the mirror.
Not noticing it from being so close, and apparently mesmerized by his reflection, Sora could not see the strange runes and symbols dotted around the frame, suddenly flaring into life with his approach.
His hand now mere inches away from pressing against the fragile glass, and still being none the wiser.
"Beautiful isn't it!"
The strange voice from behind Sora was more the enough for the brown haired man to spin around with his Kingdom Key, soon finding it striking that of a large oversized metal boomerang.
The hooded figure that held onto the mighty looking weapon, only tilted its head back at Sora's glaring features.
Soon swinging his Keyblade with as much strength as he could use, Sora raised his open free hand, firing a blast of fire at the familiar dressed figure, who simply replied by swinging his sword and destroying the feeble blast of magic.
"That isn't very nice to give to someone who saved your butts back there." the figure quickly added, his hand releasing his grip on his weapon causing the large boomerang to disappear.
"Look, we've really had enough of weird no name figures for today. Who are you?" The Keyblader asked, his stance loosening quite a bit though he still kept his weapon out, holding it to his side as he glanced briefly from the hooded figure to his still sleeping friends.
"Well, I guess it is kind of rude. I mean, you knowing nothing about me. It is only fair."
The figure started to say, his gloved hands raising up to his hood before he began to pull it back, revealing his true face to Sora.
He was possibly the same age as Riku, his wild messy blue hair ruffling in movements from his hand as he ran it through. The young man's skin was slightly pale, though his clear green eyes shone past this. A small smile was slowly etched from the corner of his mouth, as he crossed his arms along his chest and continued to watch Sora.
"You're not as normal as you look, are you?" Sora questioned the young man, crossing his arms as if to mock him in the way he presented himself.
"And I guess you're not as slow, as you look." the blue haired man replied, causing Sora to nod with a smile before quickly realizing the insult the man so clearly said.
"Oh no, he's really that slow all the time." the familiar voice of Riku suddenly picked up in the conversation, as the silver haired young man inched himself back onto his feet, with help from the pillar he was laying against.
"Hey! Come on Riku! You should really rest. You and Kairi got rea…really hurt before." the brown haired Keyblader said, his head lowering as the memories of what happened came flooding back again.
The piercing stab through all three of their single chests, the shooting pain that consumed their bodies and backs from the collision with the hard palm trees, the sheer tiredness of so much wasted energy and strength.
And all because…because.
"All because of you." the voice from the blue haired man said, his presence suddenly behind that of Sora, which startled him a little.
"Your recklessness, and overestimation of your abilities, were the only reasons for your defeat by him." said the young man, as he walked behind Sora and took a seat on the tiny collection of steps that led up to the beautiful mirror of glass.
"What was he? Who was he in fact? He was unlike anything we're ever faced before." asked Riku while the blue haired man smiled and chuckled a little, causing both standing Keywielders to look towards him like that of someone who was crazy.
"Oh come now. I know all about your strong connections to one know as Ansem, or should I say Xehanort. Or perhaps the name Xemnas would be much more clearly in your memories then any other."
"How do you know about them? We've never heard or seen you before during any of those times?" Sora added as he butted into the figure's little recap into their past.
"Sora, let him continue." the fellow Keyblader said as he rested his hand on his friends shoulder, causing Sora to nod as they turned to listen to the man speak.
"Thank you. I guess its now or never that it must be explained to you both. And of course, to your prying Princess of Light there." the blue haired man said as he motioned his hand to the pillar Riku and Kairi had been sleeping against. Suddenly, the sound of a rather nervous laugh echoed behind it, as Kairi tilted her head out from behind the stone and into view of the other three figures.
"I um, didn't want to be rude and interrupt so suddenly."
"It's of no trouble Princess. Please join us. This is something you need to hear as well."
Joining beside her two friends as they stood before the blue haired man, Kairi held her hands behind her back, watching the man as he ran his fingers through his hair and let out a long sigh in the process.
"I trust you remember your tales, with the heartless called Ansem?" he asked, causing the three wielders to nod in unison. Their thoughts replaying the whole journey that began everything for them so many years ago.
"He was such a foolish being. He believed himself unique. One of a kind. Yet of course, in this wide universe he was not. The one you all had faced, was in fact the first heartless, or I should say, the first human heartless." the young man continued to say, his green eyes glancing to all three who had a different look on each of their faces.
Sora's was that of a little confused with the whole thing.
Kairi, while remembering the horrible events that happened during the time with Ansem, still had the look of a little child hearing the beginnings of a story.
And Riku? Riku continued to stand with his arms crossed over his chest, while he listening with a most annoyed and angry look on his face.
"His name is Sleif, and it all began many, many years ago." he started to say, while he closed his eyes as if trying to remember every detail of what he was about to tell them.
It was after a time, that the universe found itself in the aftermath of a great war. Those born from darkness, had spread far and wide and in the process, consumed many worlds and innocent hearts. Chosen to be the wielders of powerful weapons, a long terrible war began. One that became known as, The Keyblade War. Massive battles took place across most worlds. The pure darkness of the heartless washed and cleansed over everything, while their numbers continued to grow with every world they took.
Keybladers many times over, joined together under a single leadership to take on the impending threat the heartless brought with them. Eventually, worlds once taken were soon wrestled free from the darkness, while the Keybladers continued their war. In the end, the darkness was pushed back by those from the light, and though some worlds were permanently lost to them, many more safely were returned. During this time of normality, travel to other worlds was greatly encouraged. On one world surrounded by a vast ocean and a collection of islands and ports, a young boy lived a peaceful life with his two friends. Not official from the world, it had been his home for a couple of years and so in a sense, was the beginning of his new life with those he had grown attached to.
That was until, like most times during history, his world came shattering down around him. An attack, one on such a scale that he never thought was possible, happened on his world on a day that seemed as normal as any other. Heartless, Nobodies, powerful creatures and beings seemed to be drawn to this one world, this one day, and in no time at all simply destroyed the boys entire life before him.
Such a miraculous change befell the young man. His mind, body and soul was completely taken in the choking darkness that followed the attack on his world. His emotions and thoughts, twisted with negativity to create such a demented and conflicting mind for himself. Such rage he held, it was possibly because of this very thing that kept him whole. The very ingredient needed to create, the first human heartless.
His power was nearly unmatched. His control over all heartless caused the once primal creatures, to change almost entirely to his will. Rage transformed the creatures into a powerful force. Once afraid of the wrath brought forward by the Keybladers, the heartless under who they saw as their father, began to spread once again. Attacking the warriors of light head on and consuming new worlds one after another with great ferocity, it seemed as if there would be no end for their hunger.
Until suddenly, their power disappeared. The heartless returned to their original state, and merely ventured out to take hearts like they always had. No record of attacks as ferocious or as planned as when the father of heartless appeared have ever come to light.
"So? You're saying in fact, he was brought here? And then what?" Riku asked as the blue haired man stood up and motioned towards the large glass mirror before them all.
"Simply put, he went to sleep. He was much too, powerful to just kill, and so the next best thing for such a being, was to seal him away where he couldn't do any more harm."
"So then how did he escape from this, perfect sleep of yours?" Sora quickly added while Kairi stood there in deep thought.
"A nobody called Xemnas, some how found the location to this chamber. In doing so, he seemed to have some slight knowledge on Sleif's own past and shattered the seal protecting us all from his power."
The silence brought on by the three looking at each other, was enough for the young man to cross his arms in thought.
"It seems I don't need to replay your events with the nobody. That's good. Means I don't have to waste any more time on explaining." he said as he turned his back on all of them and began to move towards a small part of the chamber, to which were a collection of dusty and slowly fading books.
Picking out a bright blue book from the tiny tower, the figure coughed as he swiped the old stone dust from the cover, and began to flip through the pages full of carefully hand written notes.
"Where is it? I know it's here somewhere. Xehanort, Yartns, Yen Sid..."
Speaking to himself, the young man suddenly threw the book across the ground, before quickly picking up a bright green book instead and began to once again flip through its pages like before.
Kneeling down in order to grasp the book, Kairi gently turned the old pages showing Sora and Riku what she had right there.
Lists of names, worlds, items, almost everything one could think of were right there in alphabetical order, while a small paragraph that took up about half a page was present beside each separate title, giving it meaning.
Along the hard back spine of the book, Sora noticed the letters R - Z, causing his face to light up as he began to wildly flip the pages back towards the beginning of the book.
"S-Sora! Be careful. I don't think you want to make him made by ripping his book." Kairi said in a whisper as she warned her friend, who's eyes widened as big as his smile did.
Running his finger down the list of names, it took only a few more flips of pages for the boy to find what he was looking for.
"It's me." the brown haired boy whispered as his finger was presently on that of his own name, while the small information beside it brought back memories.
Sora - The first chosen wielder of the Keyblade for many years. Have heard brief tales of his adventures both in his youth, and subsequently once he had mastered the basic properties of the Keyblade. Due in part to various help from the magician's Merlin and Yen Sid, and of his royal majesty King MicKey. Personally defeated the heartless known as Ansem, along with that of his nobody Xemnas. Current whereabouts are he has returned to his world Destiny Islands, with those of his family and friends.
"How does he know so much?" Sora asked in disbelief, while Kairi took back the book and began to flip back through more of the pages.
A small giggle escaped her lips, as she smiled and showed her friends what she had found in the book.
Riku - The second, though officially original wielder of the Keyblade known as Kingdom Key. Was swept across the cosmic waves to the ruins of Hollow Bastion, where my sources have informed me, he was found by the witch Maleficent. After his defeat at that of his friend, the Keywielder Sora, it appears Riku allowed himself to become possessed by that of the heartless Ansem. After his death, my sources have once again took it upon themselves to grant me their information on the latest know locations of the silver haired boy. Personally taking on various members of Organization XIII, and even managing to incapacitate Number XIII, Riku was forced to take on the appearance of the fake known as Ansem. Prior to the downfall of the Organization, his true form was returned to him. Though myself nor even my sources know of what transpired next, I have heard he has returned to his original world with that of his friends and family.
Upon finishing the end of his statement, Riku's head glanced up to the mysterious young man who continued to flip through many pages before turning his own gaze from one book he held, to simple another.
Walking away from Kairi, Sora was the first to raise his head as he noticed Riku was steadily making his way towards the young man, and from the brief glance of his hands forming into fists, it wasn't going to be good.
"Riku? Riku calm down now." Sora said as he tried to reason with his friend, while Kairi closed the book and held it close to her while she tried to run forward and stop Riku from doing anything stupid.
Turning around with a small smile on his face as he held a large black book, the young blue haired man simply stared up with a slightly questionably look on his face, as Riku grabbed him by the collar of his black cloak and held him in place.
"I don't like not knowing about someone, who knows so much about our lives. So tell us your name, and give us right now a good reason why we're still here, or take us back to the island." Riku ordered as his powerful eyes stared into the deep green of the figure's.
Without saying any sort of a word, the young man held up the black book he had found, allowing Riku to release his grip and hold the heavy tome in both of his hands.
Clearing his throat as he took a few steps away from Riku and the approaching two friends, the young man pressed his back against one of the pillars before finally saying.
"Castex."
Raising her head, Kairi was the first to question the word.
"Castex? What's a Castex?" she asked, causing the figure to laugh a little and shake his head, before placing his gloved hand to his chest.
"My name, is Castex. And I guess you already know, I'm not quite human. I'm a nobody. And quite a very old one at that. Don't let all of this fool you." he said with a smile, as he motioned his hand to circle his face for them, implying his youthful appearance was quite misleading.
"And, if I may continue. That, is your reason for me bringing you all here." Castex said as all three faces turned down to the large black book he held.
Printed across the entire surface of the cover, only a single title was present.
"The Brothers?" asked Sora as he raised his eyebrow, not understanding it at all while Castex stood up to his feet and walked towards them a little.
"Once upon a time children…"
Castex began to say with a grin, his green eyes glancing to the book before them all.
"…there was a group of very interested humans who judged the balance of Light and Darkness. They were interesting in that, each one had a special power." The nobody started to say, while his gloved fingers opened the large book to reveal a list of fourteen names one after another.
Through some, a cold lifeless line ran through a few of the names, while the others were left relatively alone. Skipping ahead a couple of pages, Sora noticed the many small entries of paragraphs, while some names seemed to jump out to him.
Agrabah, Wonderland, Traverse Town, Neverland, it was almost as if it was a list of every world he himself had been too, though along with those he knew, many more names were completely a mystery to him.
"Why are these five crossed out?" asked the red haired woman, as she slapped Sora's hand away and turned back to the very first page, showing the list of fourteen names again.
Without even bothering to look, Castex closed his eyes while he began to speak.
"Those names are crossed out, cause like all stories, there's a big bad monster out there. Sleif hunted The Brothers for such a long time. And in the end, five of them were taken before I was able to put him to sleep." Castex explained to them all, his eyes reopening again as he looked towards Kairi.
"You mentioned they had powers? Was that the sole reason for why Sleif went after them?" Riku was the next to ask his question, causing Castex to nod to the man.
"Precisely. Khaios was the first of them to be taken. His power was the most similar to Sleif, he controlled Darkness. The next Brother was called Ryan, while he controlled that of Light. The smartest and clearly the genius of the group Luis was soon followed after the other two. Along with his intelligence, that specific one could control all manner of technology. Angelo, the speedster of the group was taken afterwards. And finally Tanto was the last to go. His power of wind and currents was quite deadly and accurate."
"And, the others? If this was so long ago, what happened to them?" Asked Kairi, while her thoughts continued to imagine those lives lost to Sleif.
"They merely continued to do what they always have done, to judge others. They were simply part of a game to Sleif. And after I placed him in sleep, they all went their separate ways to try and better themselves. Some continue to this day to judge between light and darkness, while others merely try and live normally." The nobody said before Sora seemed to realize what Castex was about to say, and so started the sentence for him.
"But?" the brown haired wielder said, while Castex nodded slightly before sighing again gently.
"But…now the game is going to begin all over again. More then likely, Sleif is now going to hunt down the others and take them just like before. And if he does that. He'll be more unstoppable then he is now." The blue haired nobody stated, while he crossed his arms over his chest as he got looks from all three in front of him.
"Why don't you go and warn them all then? It looks to me that you know them all and know where they are. Shouldn't it be a snap for you?" Sora added, his smart mouth causing Castex to stare his green eyes towards him, like that of a old man who was clearly showing he was smarter then that of a simple minded boy.
"This chamber, is the only place in the known universe that Sleif will never come near. And it is for that reason that I must stay here. So no, it wouldn't be that much of a, snap, for me." said the nobody with an annoyed tone in hid voice, causing Sora to shrink back between his two friends.
"Sleif is smart…incredibly smart. He knows me just as I know him, and it is in that he knows if he can take me out of the picture, then no one else will be able to bring him back to sleep. Which is precisely why I need all of your help." the young man said as he slammed the book closed and lifted it up for Sora, Riku and Kairi to see it clearly.
"Cause as soon as he takes the others, he's going to go on a spree of darkness just like those hundreds of years ago. And absolutely nothing will be able to stand in his way." Holding the book to his chest, the nobody glanced from each of the three, every one of them deeply thinking to themselves, while Sora suddenly spoke up.
"If it wasn't for you, we all wouldn't be here to think through this. I don't know about you two. Maybe you both would like to go back home, but I'm not going to let this maniac hurt everyone we helped. So you can count me in!" the brown haired man said with a large smile, while his red haired friend nodded and stood just as honored beside him.
"Me too! I've spent enough time acting helpless. This time I'm going to help." Kairi added, both her own gaze and Sora's turned towards Riku, while the silver haired boy laughed a little and shook his head.
"Always pulled straight into trouble. Guess its unanimous then. So where do you suggest we go first?" asked Riku, causing Castex to smile as he reopened the large book and turned to the one with the largest section.
"Brol? What kind of name is that?" asked Sora as his eyes scanned over the numerous lines of information and notes on him.
"Funny name or not, he's the Brother who will possibly know where the rest are. Or for a start, which direction to start in. Out of the others, who appear to move quite regularly, Brol seemed to prefer this one world out of many. I'm not sure why exactly, but you'll find him somewhere in Twilight Town." Castex informed the group, as he threw the large book to them, causing Sora to catch it in his arms just as the same green ghost like energy surrounded them like a bubble.
"W-Wait! How will we know who he is!" Sora shouted out over the loud noise of the energy that was around them, while Castex simply shouted back.
"You won't! But you will! Safe landings!" the nobody shouted back with a smile, as all three inside the bubble seemed to float in mid air before they disappeared in an explosion of energy, leaving the young man alone yet again.
The roaring thunder of something slowly landing, could be heard throughout the outskirts of Twilight Town. The massive rolling green fields and valleys that spread far and wide, were more then enough for a single ship to land without causing any sort of a problem. As the ships hatch began to creak open, the faint outlines of three figures could be seen, eclipsed from that of the bright light escaping from the hold of the ship.
"I'll go and check the smaller districts in town by train. I'd like you two to look for anything strange here in the main part. I'm counting on you guys." the smallest of the three, a rather tiny figure of a person said, while the second shortest and also the tallest of the three stood like soldiers beside the small figure.
"Yes your majesty!" their strange sounding voices mixed together, before all three left in the glow of twilight towards the town.
And there you all are ^_^ Names finally for both mysterious figures. Just in case you didn't notice or maybe still confused. The giant silver haired man who attacked Destiny Islands, and who also was the one sealed within the chamber, is named Sleif. He is my own original character and is also my favorite. The second figure, the one who appeared in the Prologue and who this whole chapter is full of, is a blue haired young man by the name of Castex. He is another original character, though he has been given permission to use by his creator known as Kingdomkeylight, a great friend of mine.
Another thing to not be confused on, is that;
Sleif is the Heartless
and
Castex is the Nobody
I added some little interesting secrets through the chapter, which will play huge parts in the rest of the chapters, I wonder who can find them ^_^ Well, that's it until the next chapter, which I will be working on right away ^^ Hope you enjoyed this and helpful reviews always welcome. Thank you for reading ^-^